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INFJ Strengths and Weaknesses

INFJ Strengths

Creative – Combining a vivid imagination with a strong sense of compassion, INFJs use their creativity to resolve not technical challenges, but human ones. People with the INFJ personality type enjoy finding the perfect solution for someone they care about, and this strength makes them excellent counselors and advisors.

Insightful – Seeing through dishonesty and disingenuous motives, INFJs step past manipulation and sales tactics and into a more honest discussion. INFJs see how people and events are connected, and are able to use that insight to get to the heart of the matter.

Inspiring and Convincing – Speaking in human terms, not technical, INFJs have a fluid, inspirational writing style that appeals to the inner idealist in their audience. INFJs can even be astonishingly good orators, speaking with warmth and passion, if they are proud of what they are speaking for.

Decisive – Their creativity, insight and inspiration are able to have a real impact on the world, as INFJs are able to follow through on their ideas with conviction, willpower, and the planning necessary to see complex projects through to the end. INFJs don’t just see the way things ought to be, they act on those insights.

Determined and Passionate – When INFJs come to believe that something is important, they pursue that goal with a conviction and energy that can catch even their friends and loved ones off guard. INFJs will rock the boat if they have to, something not everyone likes to see, but their passion for their chosen cause is an inseparable part of their personality.

Altruistic – These strengths are used for good. INFJs have strong beliefs and take the actions that they do not because they are trying to advance themselves, but because they are trying to advance an idea that they truly believe will make the world a better place.

INFJ Weaknesses

Sensitive – When someone challenges or criticizes INFJs’ principles or values, they are likely to receive an alarmingly strong response. People with the INFJ personality type are highly vulnerable to criticism and conflict, and questioning their motives is the quickest way to their bad side.

Extremely Private – INFJs tend to present themselves as the culmination of an idea. This is partly because they believe in this idea, but also because INFJs are extremely private when it comes to their personal lives, using this image to keep themselves from having to truly open up, even to close friends. Trusting a new friend can be even more challenging for INFJs.

Perfectionistic – INFJs are all but defined by their pursuit of ideals. While this is a wonderful quality in many ways, an ideal situation is not always possible – in politics, in business, in romance – and INFJs too often drop or ignore healthy and productive situations and relationships, always believing there might be a better option down the road.

Always Need to Have a Cause – INFJs get so caught up in the passion of their pursuits that any of the cumbersome administrative or maintenance work that comes between them and the ideal they see on the horizon is deeply unwelcome. INFJs like to know that they are taking concrete steps towards their goals, and if routine tasks feel like they are getting in the way, or worse yet, there is no goal at all, they will feel restless and disappointed.

Can Burn Out Easily – Their passion, poor patience for routine maintenance, tendency to present themselves as an ideal, and extreme privacy tend to leave INFJs with few options for letting off steam. People with this personality type are likely to exhaust themselves in short order if they don’t find a way to balance their ideals with the realities of day-to-day living.

I love you all! Can we all go to the local now for a beer? (Well, maybe just a couple at a time.)

Rachel

3 years ago

I'm only 12, but I took this test, and I feel like I understand myself a lot better. This is so accurate, with both what I know about myself and what other people say about me. Adults I meet say I'm very quiet, but after talking to me they find that I'm quite observant and often think about deep things that nobody would ever like to chat about. I feel like I fit in more with adults than kids, and sometimes not even regular adults. I thoroughly enjoy intelligent and thoughtful conversations.
Read my mouth and you'll find I'm quiet and a bit shy. Read my mind and you'll find I'm always talking.
Thank you for helping me understand myself better. I feel more inspired now, like no matter how young I am, I can change the world.

I was as honest as I could be in completing the assessment, and I think it is mostly accurate, but I do not see myself being as decisive or as "able to follow through on their ideas with conviction, willpower..." as this profile describes. And I am definitely not a perfectionist and don't see how I came across that way; although, here I am picking the whole test apart, so maybe it depends on what activity you're talking about. As a middle-aged guy, maybe life has beaten some of that perfectionism, decisiveness, etc. out of me. Still, overall, I think it is pretty accurate. I would be interested to see the results if someone intimate to me, like my wife or kids, were to complete this using their perspective of me. Sometimes we do not see ourselves as clearly as others do!

Katya

3 years ago

This is so true my jaw just droppped. THIS is me!!!!

Karen

3 years ago

There's been so much talk about the decisiveness piece. I feel that I'm not in personal life...like everyone else has stated, I need all the facts, time in prayer or meditation, and the final word from my "gut". But, professionally, I'm decisive and direct and unwavering. For me the decisiveness solidified after reaching a director level at work and being a position to make almost every relevant decision needed for my department. I taught me that my why of knowing is valid and almost always substantiated by the outcomes even when I received resistance, I know that as a INFJ that I'm usually thinking about the layers, long-term consequences, and the highest possible good for the largest number of people, over the long haul and it almost always pays off. I just love reading all of the comments and knowing I'm not really so alone in the world.